Status

The Avengers, also known as the Heroes of New York, are a team of extraordinary individuals, either with superpowers or other special characteristics. Its purpose is to protect world stability from inner or extraterrestrial threats, and to work with the peaceful interests of the whole world rather than a specific country or organization. The Avengers were first assembled by S.H.I.E.L.D. when LokiinvadedEarth with his Chitauri army to conquer the planet. The team defeated him and went to their separate ways.

Under Captain America's leadership, the team successfully completed some missions, though the collateral damage caused during their conflicts made the United Nations pass a document, known as the Sokovia Accords, to regulate their actions. The different opinions regarding this oversight made the Avengers disband as a team, and it split into two different factions, with its members and other heroes gathering around Iron Man and Captain America, respectively. After Captain America stopped Helmut Zemo, the instigator of their fight, the team was divided.

Contents

History

Recruitment

Starting the Initiative

The Avengers are the result of S.H.I.E.L.D. Director Nick Fury's Avengers Initiative. Fury realized that a group of extraordinary individuals would be needed to battle the growing forces that conventional military forces would not be able to handle alone, much less defeat. The founding members are Captain America, the world's first superhero, the invincible armored Iron Man, the Asgardian warrior prince: Thor, the rage monster known only as the Hulk, and two of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s most skilled operatives, Hawkeye, an archer with perfect aim, and Black Widow, a master assassin with a huge skill-set.[1]

Recruiting Tony Stark

After revealing to the world that he was Iron Man,[2] Tony Stark returned home to find Nick Fury waiting for him. Fury consulted with Stark regarding the Avengers Initiative, telling him that he's not the only superhero in the world. Stark declined but Fury still kept his eye on him for the meantime.[3]

Rejecting Tony Stark

Six months after revealing to the world that he was Iron Man, Tony Stark helped to stabilize peace between East and West relations. However, he discovered that the very thing keeping him alive, the PalladiumArc Reactor, was slowly killing him. Beginning to do questionable things such as donating a large number of his personal things and giving Pepper Potts control of Stark Industries, Nick Fury began to intervene, sending in his top agent Natasha Romanoff, in the guise of Stark's new assistant Natalie Rushman, to keep an eye on him.

Fury keeping tabs on Stark

Following a number of altercations, including an attack on Stark by Ivan Vanko and a fight with his friend James Rhodes during a drunken stupor, Fury meet with Stark to discuss his condition and help him get back on the path to save himself and back to work. After finding a new element that stabilized his health and ending a large scale attack by Vanko, however, Romanoff wrote a report on Stark and stated that while the armor would benefit the Avengers Initiative, Stark himself was deemed unsuitable and was instead given a position as consultant, which he accepted on the condition that he and Rhodes would be given medals for their heroics, personally awarded by Senator Stern.[4]

Meeting Thor

After Thor was exiled to Earth and landed in New Mexico, he tried to recover Mjølnir after discovering it had made its way to Earth as well. Phil Coulson made note of Thor's strength, albeit human, and his combat skills, making his men "some of the most highly trained professionals in the world look like minimum wage mall cops." Then when the Destroyer came to Earth to kill Thor, Thor willingly handed himself over, an act that allowed him to regain his power and defeated the Destroyer. After that, Coulson approached him and Thor vowed he would be an ally to Earth if they return Jane Foster's research which Coulson agreed. However, before Coulson had a chance to debrief him, Thor flew to the landing site to return back to Asgard to stop Loki.[5]

Director Nick Fury didn't want Blonsky for the team, but was in no position to disobey a direct order from the council. Hoping to resolve the situation for Fury, Agents Phil Coulson and Jasper Sitwell conspired to sabotage the request by sending in their newly minted consultant Tony Stark to be the one to contact the General.

As planned, Stark's abrasive manner and disdain for authority resulted in Ross not only turning down the request, but also attempting to have Stark removed from the bar. In response, Stark bought the establishment and had it scheduled for demolition.[6][7]

Captain America's Return

After being frozen for approximately 70 years, Steve Rogers woke up in a 1940s-style hospital to find something wrong. When he realized the game playing on the radio was a game that he had already seen, he escaped onto the streets of New York City. There, he met Nick Fury who told him the entire incident was meant to break the news to him slowly that he had been missing for nearly 70 years.[8]

"We're running the world's greatest covert security network and you're gonna leave the fate of human race to a handful of freaks.""I'm not leaving anything to anyone. We need a response team. These people may be isolated, unbalanced even, but I believe with the right push they can be exactly what we need."

The team was assembled on the Helicarrier and initially had difficulty working together. Many of them did not want to form a team and they argued constantly over ideological differences. Tony Stark was reluctant to work under the command of Captain America. Thor demanded that Loki be returned to him and did not want to compromise. Everyone on the team was uncomfortable with the presence of Bruce Banner. After Loki killed Phil Coulson, and began his main attack, the Avengers decided to put their differences aside and went to New York City. During the battle they learned to trust one another and rally in defense of New York as it was invaded by extraterrestrials known as the Chitauri. Captain America took command of the team and they all worked to suppress the invasion force. Hulk beat Loki into submission and Iron Man carried a nuclear weapon fired by the World Security Council into the portal through which the aliens entered Earth and destroyed their fleet, breaking the neural connection with their ground troops and instantly incapacitating them. The team took Loki as their prisoner.[1]

In the aftermath of the battle, the team rested and ate at the nearby Shawarma Palace.[9] While they were eating, War Machine, who had come to New York to help fight but was too late, entered the restaurant and was introduced to the Avengers.[10] Later, the Avengers reassembled in their civilian clothes to watch Thor take both Loki and the Tesseract back to Asgard.[1]

Meanwhile, Nick Fury worked to resurrect the person that the team avenged, Phil Coulson.[11] Anticipating the possible death of an Avenger, Nick Fury had Phil Coulson lead Project T.A.H.I.T.I., an operation inside a hidden safe house where the bodily fluids of an extraterrestrial were used to make various drugs, including one that could resurrect the dead.[12] Coulson, though, recommended the project's shut down, due to its unusual side effects.[13] Since Fury considered Coulson an Avenger, he used the procedure on him anyway.[12] Coulson was successfully revived, albeit with altered memories, in order to maintain his sanity; the Avengers were kept in the dark about this, even Captain America and Black Widow, who worked for S.H.I.E.L.D.[14]

Avengers action figures

Considering how popular the team had become, a toy-line had been made called the "Heroes of New York" with action figures based on each Avenger.[15]

Later Exploits

"And the Avengers?""I'm not currently tracking their whereabouts. I'd say they've earned a leave of absence."

Despite now being familiar with one another, the Avengers continued to deal with threats individually. After his friend and former bodyguard Happy Hogan was nearly killed in an apparent terrorist attack, Stark issued a public challenge to the Mandarin, a shadowy figure claiming responsibility for the bombings. This rash action led to a chain of events that resulted in Iron Man successfully unraveling the conspiracy of Aldrich Killian, the head of A.I.M. who intended to use Extremis to create an army of super-soldiers and control both sides of the war on terror. Cut off from most of his allies, Stark nonetheless was able to defeat the false Mandarin with the assistance of James Rhodes and Pepper Potts.[18]

Meanwhile, the onset of the Convergence awoke both the Infinity Stone known as the Aether and the Dark Elves who coveted its power for the purpose of annihilating the Nine Realms. After his love interest Jane Foster unwillingly became the Aether's host, Thor traveled to Earth and sheltered her on Asgard. The subsequent Dark Elf attack led to the death of Frigga and the dismantling of Asgard's defenses, leading Thor to reluctantly recruit Loki's aid and escape to the Dark Elf homeworld, Svartalfheim, planning to lay a trap for the Dark Elves. Though Loki did not immediately betray his brother, their plan went awry, resulting in Loki's apparent death and Malekith, the Dark Elf leader, escaping with the Aether. Returning to Earth, Thor was unable to gain S.H.I.E.L.D.'s assistance in time. The Dark Elves came perilously close to succeeding in their goal but were eventually thwarted by Thor, Foster, and her colleagues. The war led Thor to renounce the throne of Asgard, but unbeknownst to him allowed Loki to secretly take Odin's place and gain control of Asgard, leaving the AllFather's fate unknown.[19]

Targeted by HYDRA

Still working for S.H.I.E.L.D., Steve Rogers was informed of the organization's latest initiative, Project Insight, a program designed to target potential threats before they struck. Rogers had deep misgivings about Insight, which only grew after witnessing Nick Fury's apparent assassination at the hands of the Winter Soldier. Fury's last actions before his seeming death were to warn the Captain that S.H.I.E.L.D. was compromised and give him the data recovered from the Lemurian Star. Rogers refused to tell all he knew to Alexander Pierce, prompting the organization to declare him a fugitive and attempt to hunt him down. Rogers eluded his pursuers and met up with Black Widow, and together the duo learned a terrifying truth. The preserved consciousness of Arnim Zola informed them that HYDRA had recovered from its defeat during the war and realized that in order to take control, humanity needed to willingly give up its freedom. To this end, the organization had infiltrated S.H.I.E.L.D. at its founding, using their influence to spread chaos across the globe.

By the present day, HYDRA had grown large enough to gain nearly complete control of S.H.I.E.L.D., and now stood to use Project Insight to complete their master plan. Rogers managed to uncover Insight's true purpose: the elimination of over twenty million individuals that posed a threat to HYDRA's control. Nearly all of the Avengers were primary targets, including Tony Stark and Bruce Banner, who remained unaware of the imminent threat. Fortunately, Captain America, Black Widow, and their allies were able to narrowly prevent Insight's activation, taking down the thoroughly corrupted S.H.I.E.L.D. in the process.[16]

Fighting HYDRA

With the rising threat of HYDRA, the Avengers were officially reassembled, with the financial backing of Tony Stark. Using the former Stark Tower, now renamed Avengers Tower, as their headquarters, and using the new drones of the Iron Legion, they embarked on several missions to ruin HYDRA's plans for world domination. Their main target was the cell of Baron Wolfgang von Strucker, which was in possession of Loki's scepter.[20]

When Black Widow intercepted a call from the HYDRA scientist Dr. Jensen to her colleagues in Khartoum, Sudan, the Avengers quickly flew in their Quinjet to the location of Jensen's lab. Though HYDRA managed to shoot down the Quinjet, the Avengers fiercely attacked HYDRA's soldiers. Despite their tanks, guns, and numerical superiority, HYDRA soldiers decided to retreat. Refusing to admit defeat, Dr. Jensen took the power gauntlets from one fallen soldier and attacked the Avengers with heavy energy blasts. However, Hawkeye sneaked up behind her and destroyed her weapon with one of his explosive arrows.[21]

Thanks to information acquired by Phil Coulson and S.H.I.E.L.D. who gave it to Maria Hill,[22] the Avengers were able to finally locate Loki's Scepter in the European country of Sokovia. The team attacked the base in force. The team fought as a unit, using skilled combat techniques which complemented each others' fighting styles. This synergy, coupled with their abilities and equipment, gave them a decisive advantage over the HYDRA defenders. During the battle, the superpowered Maximoff twins Pietro and Wanda also attacked the team and Hawkeye was injured in the process. Tony located the Scepter but as he went to retrieve it Wanda used her powers to show Stark his greatest fear: the entire team dead and the Chitauri invading Earth. Stark retrieved the Scepter and the team returned to the Avengers Tower.[20]

Stark convinced Thor to let him study the Scepter for the next three days. Then he persuaded Banner to help him merge the Ultron Program with the artificial intelligence inside the gem on the Scepter. Three days later, their experiments were still unsuccessful. That night, the Avengers, Maria Hill, Helen Cho and James Rhodes were having a party, as they tried to lift Mjølnir. Unknowingly to Stark, the Ultron Program successfully reacted when exposed to the power of the gem, creating the new artificial being, Ultron. After making a body from the damaged parts of the Iron Legion robots, Ultron appeared on the party, proclaiming that humanity was not worthy of survival. The Iron Legion, controlled by Ultron, attacked the Avengers, and although most of the robots were destroyed, including Ultron, one robot managed to escape with the Scepter, while Ultron's consciousness escaped via the internet.[20]

Argument

After a brief battle, the lead Ultron robot was destroyed, although it claimed it would attack again. With the team gathered together, Stark began examining the robot to understand what caused it. He learned that it had destroyed J.A.R.V.I.S.' mainframe in a rage. Thor stormed in and grabbed Stark by the throat, accusing him of bringing destruction to the earth, Stark defended himself, however, claiming that he was coming up with a solution to end the war he had caused. Stark asked how they were going to defeat him and Rogers responded that they would defeat him or lose as a team. The team later learned that Ultron had built himself a new body, had created an alliance with Wanda and Pietro Maximoff and had killed Wolfgang von Strucker and was planning on stealing Vibranium from Ulysses Klaue.[20]

The team flew to South Africa where they found Ultron, along with Pietro and Wanda Maximoff, taking the Vibranium. They engaged in a fierce battle, with Tony Stark taking on Ultron alone while the rest of the team fought the Ultron Sentries and the Maximoff twins. Eventually, Stark brought down Ultron and destroyed his body. However, the team had been mentally taken down by Wanda, who showed them their worst fears. She caused Bruce Banner to transform into the Hulk in the middle of South Africa, and the Hulk started to destroy everything he could. Stark called for his Mark XLIV armor; he tried to contain the Hulk in an enforced metal cage, but when this failed, the friends began to fight. Eventually, Stark knocked the Hulk down, but not without collateral damage.[20]

Captain America, Black Widow and Hawkeye flew with the Avengers Quinjet to Seoul to retrieve the Cradle with the synthetic body in it. Tony Stark went to the NEXUS base in Oslo to find the person who prevented from Ultron getting nuclear codes. During the fight, Wanda and Pietro Maximoff helped the Avengers against Ultron, after they had discovered that he wanted to destroy the human race. They helped Captain America to save civilians during the battle. Black Widow managed to take the Cradle and gave it to Hawkeye, but she was kidnapped by Ultron. Hawkeye was forced to fly to the Avengers Tower to give it to Stark. The twins convinced Rogers that giving the Cradle to Stark will cause more troubles because he, like Ultron, could noy see the different between saving the world and destroying it.[20]

Birth of Vision

"I don't want to kill Ultron. He's unique. And he's in pain. But that pain will roll over the earth, so he must be destroyed. Every form he's built, every trace of his presence on the 'net. We have to act now. And not one of us can do it without the others."

Tony Stark and Clint Barton returned to the Avengers Tower. Barton brought with him the Cradle with the synthetic body in it, and he went to search for Romanoff. Stark reveled to Banner that J.A.R.V.I.S., who was not destroyed by Ultron as he thought, was the person who prevented from Ultron to get the nuclear codes. Stark tried to convinced Banner to help him put J.A.R.V.I.S. inside the body. At first, Banner refused but Stark claimed that it was the only hope they got to stop Ultron. Banner then agreed to help him. As the two were almost finished, Steve Rogers with Wanda and Pietro Maximoff came and ordered them to shut it down. After they refused, the two and Barton fought against the three, but suddenly Thor came in and revived the synthetic body with his lightning. The living body jumped out and briefly attacked Thor until he looked out over the city, the living body apologized and called itself the Vision and claimed to wish to assist them to fight Ultron. Thor explained that he had seen the Vision in his vision and the Mind Stone, one of the six Infinity Stones, that is in the Vision's forehead. At first the team did not trust him, but as proof of his honor, Vision handed Thor Mjølnir.[20]

"Ultron knows we're coming. Odds are we'll be riding into heavy fire. And that's what we signed up for. But the people of Sokovia, they didn't. So our priority is getting them out. All they want is to live their lives in peace. And that's not going to happen today. But we can do our best to protect them. And we can get the job done. We find out what Ultron's been building. We find Romanoff, and we clear the field. Keep the fight between us. Ultron thinks we're monsters and we're what's wrong with the world. This isn't just about beating him. It's about whether he's right."

The Avengers, alongside Wanda and Pietro Maximoff and Vision, found Ultron in Sokovia where Natasha Romanoff was held. Bruce Banner freed her from her cell while the Avengers evacuated the city. Tony Stark and Vision confronted Ultron and he revealed to them that he was planning to turn a part from Novi Grad into a meteor, lifted by Chitauri technology. The city was flying, and the Avengers fought against Ultron and his sentries. The Avengers got assistance from Nick Fury and Maria Hill with the Helicarrier and they helped with evacuating the city, and from James Rhodes who helped with the battle. The Avengers regrouped to prevent Ultron from pressing the key that would cause the meteor to fall, becoming an extinction level event, killing billions. Ultron managed to kill Pietro Maximoff, who sacrificed himself to save Clint Barton. Wanda destroyed the main body of Ultron to avenge her brother's death, but a sentry pressed the key and the meteor fell. Stark and Thor caused the meteor to explode and Vision destroyed the last body of Ultron.[20]

New Avengers

The New Team

The new members of the Avengers trained by Captain America and Black Widow

"Well, we're not the '27 Yankees.""We've got some hitters.""They're good; they're not a team.""Let's beat 'em into shape."

With the defeat of Ultron, the original Avengers were no more. Banner flew to an unknown destination and was missing, Stark retired from active duty, choosing to remain as a non-combative member of the team, Thor returned to Asgard to research the Infinity Stones, and Barton officially retired from the roster and returned home to his wife and children. With the help of Fury, Hill, Cho and Selvig, a new base, remodeled from an old Stark warehouse, was established for the Avengers, located in upstate New York. Captain America now leads a new team consisting of Black Widow, War Machine, Falcon, Scarlet Witch and Vision.[20]

The facility was visited by Ant-Man, who was told by his mentor, Hank Pym, that an old piece of Stark technology was needed to further their plans. Falcon, who spotted the intruder, engaged with him. After announcing himself as Scott Lang, he and Falcon got into a brief skirmish, which resulted in Falcon's defeat and Lang's successful escape with the gadget. Falcon then put word on the street that he was looking for Ant-Man.[23]

Project Ultimo

With many destroyed Ultron Sentries from the Battle of Sokovia, HYDRA collected many of the parts and took them to an undisclosed location in Eastern Europe, where they used the parts to create a giant robot called Ultimo. HYDRA then used the Ultimo to attack a small village. The Avengers reacted to the attack and destroyed Ultimo.[24]

The Avengers tracked Brock Rumlow in Lagos, Nigeria. Captain America, Black Widow, Falcon and Scarlet Witch waited to locate him. Once a garbage truck crashed into the Institute for Infectious Diseases building, they went there and fought against Rumlow's mercenaries. Captain America entered the building, discovering that Rumlow had left with a biological weapon. Rumlow and his mercenaries escaped to a market, where they split up. Black Widow managed to take the weapon and Captain America and Rumlow fought each other.

At the moment Captain America gained the upper hand, he asked Rumlow who had hired him. Rumlow responded that it was Bucky Barnes and exploded himself to kill Captain America. However, Scarlet Witch caught the explosion with her power around Rumlow and tried to move the blast away, but inadvertently destroyed a nearby building and killing many of its occupants. Rogers asked Wilson to call the firefighters.[25]

The Sokovia Accords

"For the past four years, you operated with unlimited power and no supervision. That's an arrangement the governments of the world can no longer tolerate. But I think we have a solution. The Sokovia Accords. Approved by 117 countries. It states that the Avengers shall no longer be a private organization. Instead, they'll operate under the supervision of a United Nations panel, only when and if that panel deems it necessary."

Secretory of State Thaddeus Ross visited the New Avengers Facility and explained to the Avengers that although they had saved the world many times, the governments of the world could not let them be an independent organization. He showed them the Sokovia Accords, a document that required the Avengers to operate under the overseeing of an United Nations panel. The Avengers and Tony Stark argued on whether they should sign the Accords or not. Stark highly supported it, since he felt guilty for creating Ultron and the damages it caused. On the other hand, Steve Rogers did not agree with the Accords, claiming that the panel would send them where they would not think they should go, or would not send them where they should go. Eventually, only Stark, Natasha Romanoff, James Rhodes and Vision agreed to signed the Accords while, Rogers, Sam Wilson and Wanda Maximoff were against it.[25]

The four were brought to the Joint Counter Terrorist Centre Building in Berlin, where Stark once again tried to convince Rogers to sign the Accords, but after he discovered that Wanda Maximoff was under house arrest by Vision under Stark's orders, he refused. As Barnes had a psychological test by a psychiatrist, a power outage occurred. Rogers suspected the psychiatrist had a part in it. Barnes managed to escape from his cell and Rogers, Wilson, Stark, Natasha Romanoff, Sharon Carter and T'Challa tried to stop him. After Rogers prevented him from escaping in a helicopter, he, Wilson and Barnes went underground.

Captain America's team came to Lepzig/Halle Airport, but Iron Man's team waited for them. They gave Captain America one last chance to surrender, but he refused. The scattered team of Captain America caused a dispersion in Iron Man's team, who tried to catch the Winter Soldier and prevent them from reaching the Quinjet. The two teams fought each other until Captain America and his team reunited and ran to the Quinjet, but Vision arrived and stopped them with his energy blast. The two teams then faced and charged at each other. During the fight, Hawkeye told Captain America they would stay and Only he and Winter Soldier would go. Ant-Man increased his body to a huge size to create a distraction for Captain America and the Winter Soldier to reach the Quinjet. Iron Man, War Machine, Vision and Spider-Man worked together to take him down. Once Captain America and the Winter Soldier reached the hangar, Black Widow waited for them. However, she betrayed her team and stunned Black Panther to help the two reach Zemo. As they flew away, Iron Man and War Machine pursed them with Falcon behind them. Stark asked Vision, who checked on Wanda Maximoff, to take Falcon down. Vision missed his blast and hit War Machine's Arc Reactor. He crashed to the ground but he survived. Rogers and Barnes managed to escape.[25]

Meanwhile, Rogers and Barnes arrived at the facility searching for Zemo. Stark also arrived and declared a ceasefire to find Zemo. They found the Winter Soldiers, all dead. Zemo revealed himself and explained that he wanted revenge on the Avengers for his loss of his family during the Battle of Sokovia. He showed them a video from 1991, in which Barnes, under HYDRA control, killed Stark parents. Stark demanded that Rogers would tell him if he had known that. After Rogers told him he had known, Stark tried to kill Barnes while Rogers tried to stop him, claiming it was not Barnes' fault. The three fought viciously. The fight eventually ended with Rogers taking Barnes with him and leaving his shield behind for Stark.[25]

Offering Spider-Man a Place

Following his experience with the Avengers, Peter Parker continued helping the people of New York City, hoping that he would eventually be offered by Tony Stark to join the team. Parker entered into a conflict with the Vulture and his crew, which caused some severe damages in the city. Stark was disappointed at Parker, who let himself be in danger, so he confiscated the Spider-Man Suit. However, Parker could not let the Vulture to complete his plan, so he stopped him from stealing some Stark Industries tech and also led to the Vulture's arrest. Stark was impressed by Spider-Man, and finally offered him to join his Avengers team and a new suit. However, Parker declined the offer and the suit, claiming that he should help the ordinary civilians and learn more before joining.[26]

Members

Current Members

Description: Anthony Edward Stark, called Tony by most, is a self-proclaimed eccentric genius, billionaire, playboy and philanthropist. After being abducted by the Ten Rings terrorist organization, who desired his company's weapons technology, Stark constructed a high-tech suit of armor that aided him in his escape. Shaken from the experience, Stark seeks to bring about world peace using other suits, each one more advanced than the last. His heroic adventures have brought him into contact with enemies, including Obadiah Stane, Ivan Vanko, Justin Hammer and Aldrich Killian. However, his self-destructive nature and love for fame made his actions less than discrete, and attracted the attention of Nick Fury. Stark reluctantly agreed to serve as a consultant to Nick Fury's peacekeeping intelligence agency S.H.I.E.L.D., and later teamed up with them and the Avengers to take down Loki during the Chitauri Invasion. Usually when not on his own or with the Avengers, he teams up with his best friend and partner, James Rhodes. After the defeat of Ultron, Stark chose to leave the Avengers behind him, shaken by his unwitting role in the chaos Ultron caused. His choice to side with the Sokovia Accords led him to fight against his friend, Steve Rogers, causing the Avengers to divide into two groups.

Description: USAF Colonel James Rhodes was the military liaison to Stark Industries and a close friend of Tony Stark. He appropriated his Mark II Iron Man suit and had it modified by Hammer Industries into the War Machine armor. During the government's alliance with the think tank A.I.M., Rhodes became known as the Iron Patriot to boost morale as he investigated alleged attacks by the terrorist group the Ten Rings, until A.I.M. was exposed as being behind them and Rhodes resumed using the War Machine codename, which he personally preferred. Rhodes aided the Avengers during the Battle of Sokovia and joined the team in its second incarnation. Rhodes joined his friend Tony Stark and the Avengers who supported with the Sokovia Accords and fought against those who were rejected them, ending in Rhodes' getting injured and nearly paralyzed.

Description: Vision is a powerful synthetic life form originally constructed by brilliant scientist Dr. Helen Cho and then perfected by the deranged artificial intelligence, Ultron, using the power of the Mind Stone hidden within the Scepter. Ultron sought to make the synthetic's body his own, but fortunately, the body was claimed by the Avengers and perfected by Tony Stark, who uploaded into it the consciousness of his own AI, J.A.R.V.I.S., granting the synthetic life. Calling himself the Vision, the robot proved his faithfulness to the Avengers and assisted them as a last minute addition in the Battle of Sokovia. Vision himself was responsible for Ultron's defeat, and remained with the Avengers when they were reformed by Captain America. However, the Avengers divided into two groups, after some of the members' disagreements with the Sokovia Accords. Despite his love towards Wanda Maximoff, he chose to fight her and the members who opposed the Accords.

Former Members

Description: Steve Rogers is a World War II veteran and the team's leader. After Abraham Erskine's Super Soldier Serum transformed the frail Steve Rogers into the powerful and heroic Captain America, his amazing World War II exploits made him a living legend. He is considered to be the world's first superhero. Rogers destroyed multiple HYDRA bases, slowly crippling the organization. During his final battle with the leader of HYDRA, the infamous Red Skull, Rogers crashed a plane into the Arctic and was frozen in ice for nearly seventy years. He was eventually found by S.H.I.E.L.D. and resuscitated. Shortly after his revival, Rogers found himself alone in a modern world that he hardly recognizes. When Nick Fury, director of S.H.I.E.L.D., called on Rogers to help save the world again, he quickly suited up as Captain America, taking up his iconic shield and bringing his strength, leadership and no-nonsense attitude to the Avengers in the Chitauri Invasion. After the team disbanded as a result of the Ultron crisis, Captain America formed a new lineup alongside Black Widow. However, he had to face against some of his members led by Iron Man because of Rogers' disagreements with the Sokovia Accords and defending the Winter Soldier. As a result, Captain America was tagged as a fugitive and had to go on the run.

Description: Natasha Romanoff, better known as Black Widow, is a former Russian spy and a member of S.H.I.E.L.D., the international counter-intelligence agency that founded the Avengers, before it collapsed at the hands of HYDRA. Even in her short career at S.H.I.E.L.D., Agent Romanoff has turned covert espionage into an art form. Armed with an extensive complement of high-tech weaponry and armaments, as well as a vast repertoire of martial arts and hand-to-hand combat training, Romanoff's skill-set seems to know no bounds. After Loki declared war on Earth, Romanoff joined the Avengers, despite not being applied to the initiative, and contributed greatly in the team's battle against Loki and the Chitauri. She and Captain America remained members of the team after the defeat of Ultron, recruiting new members under Nick Fury's counsel. Romanoff initially supported the Sokovia Accords, but chose to betray Tony Stark, realizing the damage their fight against the Avengers opposing the Accords was causing. After allowing Captain America and the Winter Soldier to escape, she was forced to go on the run.

Description: A USAF veteran, Sam Wilson was one of the test pilots for the EXO-7 Falcon flight harness, but after his partner Riley was killed in action, he worked as a counselor for veterans in Washington, D.C., where he became acquainted with Steve Rogers. Rogers and Natasha Romanoff turned to his help when they discovered S.H.I.E.L.D. had been compromised by HYDRA, and he donned his wings again to aid in stopping Project Insight. Afterwards, Wilson investigated the Winter Soldier's whereabouts on Rogers' behalf as he was preoccupied by leading the Avengers against HYDRA, before joining the second incarnation of the team. He stayed loyal to Rogers as they faced against Iron Man and his supporters on the Sokovia Accords, causing Wilson to go on the run with the rest of those who opposed the Accords.

Description: Wanda Maximoff is a native of the Eastern European country of Sokovia who grew up solely in the company of her twin brother, Pietro, after their parents were killed by weaponry of Tony Stark's making. In an effort to help purge their country of warfare, the twins agreed to undergo experiments with the Scepter under the supervision of Wolfgang von Strucker's HYDRA cell, and achieved superpowers as a result, with Wanda attaining various telekinetic and energy manipulating abilities. In his mission to bring about the genocide of the human race, Ultron took great use in the pair, manipulating their enmity towards Tony Stark to serve his own needs. But upon learning of Ultron's true motives, Wanda and Pietro rebelled against the android and joined up with the Avengers in the Battle of Sokovia, where Pietro was killed, leaving Wanda devastated. She later joined up with Captain America's second incarnation of the Avengers. Maximoff disagreed with the Sokovia Accords, causing her to fight against some of her teammates, including her love interest, Vision. She later went on the run along with her fellow teammates that opposed the Accords.

Description: Thor is the heir of Odin, the king of Asgard. When Thor's headstrong ways nearly plunged his realm into war, Odin banished Thor to Earth as punishment, where his otherworldly antics drew the attention of S.H.I.E.L.D. While in exile on Earth, Thor learned humility and helped to save his new friends from a destructive threat sent by his jealous adoptive brother Loki. In the process, Thor redeemed himself in the eyes of his father, and attempted to confront Loki over his actions; the ensuing confrontation resulted in Loki's own exile. After being welcomed back to Asgard as a hero, Thor must now return to Earth once again to prevent a cosmic-level catastrophe. With Mjølnir, a legendary hammer with immense power, in his hand, the mighty warrior soon finds himself drawn into an unlikely alliance with Nick Fury's secret initiative, the Avengers, lending his power to their cause against Loki and his army. When the crisis with Ultron took place years later, Thor grouped with the Avengers again. However, once that ordeal had ended, Thor left his mortal compatriots once more, returning to Asgard to further understand his vision on the mysterious and powerful Infinity Stones.

Description: Doctor Bruce Banner was a graduate from Culver University who was hired by military general Thaddeus Ross to develop a new variation of the Super Soldier Serum that brought Captain America into being. Using gamma radiation, Banner succeeded in his experiments, but the results were more disastrous than he thought as he involuntarily transformed into a monster known as Hulk. Now, fearful of the damage that Hulk could inflict, Banner chose to live a discreet life in remote parts of the world, working to cure the sick and help the poor while trying to elude those who would take advantage of his ability to change into the enormous, green menace. Unknown to Banner, Nick Fury of S.H.I.E.L.D. watched over him and kept hostile forces off his back, as Fury saw Banner's transformation as being a valuable asset to the agency's Avengers Initiative. Despite his chagrin, Banner aided the Avengers greatly in the Chitauri Invasion, and later became good friends with Tony Stark and worked with him numerous times. Together, the two created the artificial intelligence Ultron, initially as a peacekeeping program, only for the AI to go rogue and force the Avengers to assemble once again. In the ensuing conflict, Banner was declared missing in action during the Battle of Sokovia and was last seen aboard the Avengers Quinjet.

Description: Clint Barton, also known as Hawkeye, is an elite agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. A master marksman and specialist in archery, Barton has been assigned on various different missions and faced numerous dangers in his career; it was one of these missions that brought his comrade, Natasha Romanoff, into S.H.I.E.L.D. Before the Chitauri Invasion, Hawkeye was assigned by Nick Fury to keep watch over Erik Selvig while the doctor was studying the Tesseract; Hawkeye was subsequently brainwashed by Loki during the destruction of Project P.E.G.A.S.U.S. and unwillingly aided him in setting up his invasion of New York. However, after the attack on the Helicarrier, he was freed from Loki's mental control and joined the Avengers to fight against Loki's alien army. After that, he continued to work for S.H.I.E.L.D. until its collapse, after which he then returned to the Avengers and assisted in bringing down Ultron. Once that threat had been dealt with, Barton chose not to remain with the Avengers, instead returning to his wife and children. However, Barton teamed with Captain America with his fight against the Sokovia Accords and its supporters. After the Clash of the Avengers, Barton and the others siding with Captain America went into hiding.

Deceased Members

Description: Pietro Maximoff was a man who was born in the Eastern European country of Sokovia with his twin sister, Wanda. When the twins were children, their parents died in a bombing involving Tony Stark's weapons technology. As the two grew up, Sokovia was caught up in constant war and strife, and the twins regularly took part in various protests meant to drive military forces out of their home. Wolfgang von Strucker, the leader of a secret HYDRA group set up in Sokovia, recruited Pietro and Wanda to take part in a series of tests involving the Scepter. The energy from the scepter transformed the twins, granting them superpowers. Pietro himself was gifted with superhuman speed, and his talents as well as his sister's led to their indoctrination by Ultron in his campaign against the Avengers. The twins assisted Ultron greatly for a time, before learning of his genocidal intents towards humanity; they turned against Ultron, deciding to instead help the Avengers stop him. However, Quicksilver was killed in the battle, shot dead protecting Hawkeye and the young boy he had been trying to rescue.

Trivia

The formation of the Avengers at the hands of S.H.I.E.L.D. as portrayed in The Avengers follows the same premise as The Ultimates, a modern re-imagining of the Avengers within the comic book universe.

Despite not being an official member of the Avengers team, Agent Phil Coulson was regarded as a fallen Avenger by Nick Fury.[14]

With the exception of Black Widow and Hawkeye, the order in which the Avengers are introduced in the series follows the original founding lineup portrayed in the comics, although both of them become members later in different lineups.